The Linux-based tablet PC that was supposed to be named CrunchPad will be available to consumers real soon. The JooJoo is the product of the CrunchPad project started by TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, Louis Monier, and Singapore-based design studio Fusion Garage.

So why did they call it JooJoo instead of the CrunchPad? Actually, recent disagreements between Arrington and the Fusion Garage team ended the CrunchPad project. Chandra Rathakrishnan, Fusion Garage CEO, later announced that the CrunchPad would be released by the company as the JooJoo to avoid messy lawsuits.

Now, let's talk about JooJoo's hardware specifications. The device is running on a 1.6GHz Atom processor with 4GB cache memory. It is loaded with 1GB of RAM so expect it to handle multi-tasking well. The JooJoo has a 12.1-inch diagonal 720p capacitive touch screen capable of 1366x768-pixel resolution. It also has built-in speakers, headphone jack, webcam, mic, WiFi, one USB slot, and a card slot. There's no TV out or HDMI out as of the moment.

The JooJoo is basically just a web-browsing machine. It runs on a custom-made Linux operating system with a sole purpose of running a browser that's based on Webkit. The home screen is your window to different web sites/applications. The "Internet is the application" so you can't save files like images and documents to your physical storage device.

If you are planning to buy the JooJoo, prepare to shell out $499. I think the price is too steep for a device that does a lot less stuff than a netbook. But, that's just my opinion. What do you think?